Thursday, July 24:
We have been in Mallorca now for over three weeks, arriving here June 25, and we love being back. Dream Catcher III has been very well looked after in our absence and we returned to our second home with everything prepared for us by our local friend David so that we could easily take up our lives here again.
For the first couple of weeks we just settled in, not moving from Palma except to go out into the Bay of Palma to go sailing and swimming. One day our Mallorcan friends David and Caty, with their 8 year-old daughter Noa and 11 year-old son Albert, came out with us for one of those great Mediterranean lunches and we had a fantastic sail. It's unusual to have such a good breeze at the end of June, such that we did not even need to have a swim to cool off.
Our very good friend Ginnie Schroder came from the US to stay with us on July 11 for a couple of weeks so she has been able to join in with some of our outings, including dinner one night at the home of David and Caty and the wonderful evening performance of the Balleriac Symphony Orchestra playing Tchaikovsky's Symphony #5, in the open central area of Bellver Castle.
Last week we took the boat around to Port d'Andratx where we anchored just out of the main harbour for the night, but we did not realise it was the day of the Festival of the Virgin de Carmen (July 16). We had dinner on the boat, sitting in the cockpit watching the glorious sunset, and it was extremely peaceful until about 200 boats of all sizes came streaming past us heading out to sea, led by the Guardia de Civil boat. They were decorated with flags, flowers and ribbons and stacked with people so it was very entertaining for us. They eventually returned to the port and we went to bed expecting to have a peaceful night. At midnight we heard the first bang and returned to the cockpit to see a fabulous fireworks display, with the launching place only about 100 metres away! Although it was a perfect spot for viewing the fireworks we know that the worst thing about staying on the edge of that harbour is that the fishing boats all tear out to sea each morning, starting at about 5.00 am, and they were true to form the next morning, rocking the boat wildly as they sped by. Not a restful night!
July 17 was a beautiful sunny morning with a light breeze to help us stay cool as we motored (still not enough wind for sailing) further up the coast to stay the night at Port de Soller, in the Marina Tramontana ( a relatively new marina catering for bigger boats than the main marina filled with the little traditional boats owned by locals). We don't mind being on anchor because that is usually a very peaceful experience, but we have had a new inverter installed and have discovered that none of the power points work unless the generator is on, which will need to be fixed, so we were happy to have shore power at the marina. They also had very good wifi, a rare commodity in Europe. Ginnie has an iPad that can only be used with wifi (it doesn't even have a SIM card so it is not an option to purchase a local one) and she also discovered that her iPhone is locked by her home carrier so she couldn't use a local SIM card in that, making email and SMS communication, and anything else the internet is used for, extremely limited for her. These issues are something to be very aware of for anyone planning travel to Europe.
On July 18 we motored back down the coast about an hour to Punta de Sa Foradada, a cliff that juts out into the sea and is named after the large circular hole in the cliff. We anchored on the southern side of the cliff in a beautiful cove and walked quite a way up the cliff to a restaurant built on the rocks. Thankfully we had reserved a table as many others made the walk only to be turned away because the restaurant was 'Completo'. They specialise in paella, cooked in the pans over an open fire, and our seafood version was superb, with lots of prawns, clams, mussels and langoustines. It was a very hot day and we were not sitting far from the fire so we really enjoyed our swim off the boat after lunch.
We returned to Port de Soller for another night and at about 6 PM the wind turned and came into the harbour from the south-east, blowing up to 25 knots, pushing us against the concrete dock. As usual for the Med, we were stern to, and Greg was able to get another rope onto the forward anchor line to hold us off the dock. Most boats needed assistance, particularly one out in the harbour that had dragged its anchor while the owners were ashore and was drifting into a concrete wall or perhaps other boats. Fortunately its anchor caught on something before this happened and several people in motorised dinghies came to help rescue the boat until the owners returned. Our plans to eat out changed as we stayed on board to make sure our boat was safe, but the wind abated during the night to give us a comfortable sleep.
We headed back to Palma the next day, needing to motor all the way again with the wind on the nose! It's always good to return to Palma, with a sheltered marina and the vibrancy of a very cultured city. Seeing other parts of the island is easy by car so we took Ginnie for a drive inland through Alaro and Orient, where the valleys surrounded by the rugged mountains of the Tramontana provide stunning scenery, and then across to the western coastal town of Banyulbufar, perched high above the sea. We had excellent gazpacho for lunch on the balcony of a quaint hotel, overlooking the stone terracing of the hillsides, originally done by the Moors hundreds of years ago to create land for planting vines, olives and vegetables. It was actually hard to find a restaurant open because it was Sunday, still a very important family and religious day in the towns away from the main tourist areas. We drove on down to Port d'Andratx, passing through huge barren areas of the coastline where the bush fires two years ago burnt out all of the pines and other local deciduous trees - it's tragic to see what has happened to the once beautiful landscape.
Of course when we reached Port d'Andratx all of the cafés, bars and restaurants were open, catering for the numbers who rent apartments and houses in this area during the summer months. I bought some almond cake at one of the excellent bakery cafés to take back to the boat as we love it with coffee in the afternoons and we chose one of the waterfront restaurants to have a mojito to savour the last of the afternoon. (We have learned that in Spain it is still morning until you have had lunch, regardless of the time of day, and it is still afternoon until you have had dinner.) When you are in areas like Port d'Andratx it is hard to imagine that Spain is having such economical problems as there is no sign of the depression at all.
Palma is also looking extremely prosperous, with new restaurants, cafés and shops. One of our favourite shops, Rialto Living, which sells beautiful homeware, bolts of stunning fabrics for interior decorating, cookery and 'coffee table' books, stationery and classy clothing, has been extended and restored into the most exquisite shop we have ever seen anywhere. The old stone walls and arches dominate the architecture and their new cafe has palm trees and agapanthus growing inside, aided by the stunning skylight above. Part of the new second floor is set aside as a gallery for art exhibitions, but the most interesting section is an entire 'room' with the walls, arches and ceiling tiled in mosaics. It was originally the Moorish garden area of the old home that once occupied this area and the beautiful tiling is still intact. We were lucky enough to attend the opening of the gallery last week, enjoying the champagne and finger food as well as the very interesting art - each piece includes a 3-D aspect created by wire mesh.
The Santa Catalina market is also better than ever, with the addition of several eating places, each of them consisting of a small bar with stools for patrons and a small specialised range of food and wine or beer. They include a range of Mallorcan tapas, sushi, grilled prawns or langoustines, a variety of chilled shellfish ready to eat, and a range of the best Spanish jamon served with special crackers that prevent your mouth from feeling greasy. It is very difficult not to stop for something to eat and drink when we are doing our food shopping! Our regular market people were pleased to see us return, with hugs all round and me wishing that we could speak much more Spanish so that we could have a proper conversation. David is giving us Spanish lessons most days but we are still just beginners. A couple of the market folk speak enough English to be the interpreters so they all know we are back for the summer. Of course we are loving all of the food we buy - the local oranges with the stalk and leaves still attached to the oranges, Mallorcan melon grown by the family we buy it from, the tiny legs or shoulders of lamb (2 shoulders being required to provide one meal for the 2 of us), the special jamon from the black pigs fed on acorns, the local and French or Italian cheeses, etc.
We are spoiled in the mornings when Sarah pedals her bike along the dock, selling goods from the French style bakery that is across the road from the market. Attached to her bike is a large container filled with croissants, pastries, excellent baguettes, mini quiches and a range of breads. I wish we had such a service at home.
We have eaten out at some of our old favourites, such as Forn de Sant Joan which is in an ancient bakery, the Japanese style Tahini at Porta Portels, and La Boveda with its tapas specialties such as scrambled eggs with prawns and garlic, dates wrapped in bacon, white bean stew with clams and ham croquettes. We remembered enjoying the Italian La Baranda, near the Santa Catalina market, a few years ago so we returned there for outstanding homemade pasta dishes - gnocchi with pork ragu and ravioli with goats cheese and aubergines. They also had the best aioli, bread and olives (a typical nibble provided in most restaurants). We have also tried a new tapas restaurant called Umbo, owned by the brothers who own Forn, and everything was fantastic so we will definitely return.
On Tuesday (July 22) we planned to visit the Mallorcan Museum in Palma , intent on learning more about the history of Mallorca through the times of the Romans, Moors and other groups, but the building was closed for restoration. So we decided to find a pleasant lunch spot instead and discovered De Tokio a Lima in Calle Sant Feliu, within a new luxury boutique hotel, Can Alomar. Wow! The gazpacho soup was poured into a bowl with cucumber sorbet in the centre and in the soup were orange pearls. It was a perfect combination of flavours and absolutely delicious. We found out later on goodfood.com.au that the 'pearls' are made of agar-agar, a vegetarian gelatine substitute produced from a variety of seaweed vegetation. This can be added to many ingredients, e.g. orange juice, and dropped into chilled vegetable oil using an eye-dropper, to form tiny balls or 'pearls'. Greg's main course was a local fish, but Ginnie and I had a salad of mixed leaves (including beetroot leaves), chunks of avocado, crispie chicken (crisp because it was cooked in a very fine tempura-type batter) and Topeka eggs (flying fish roe). Another perfect dish. We had to try dessert because everything sounded great so we chose three different ones- a citrus tart with a super fine pastry and a light topping of soft meringue, baked apple with a toffee cream, and red fruits ( berries) in an unusual sauce. The first two were by far the best. Local rose wine to accompany the food and good espresso coffee to conclude the meal meant that we were totally satisfied and extremely happy that the museum had been closed. We intend to return to the restaurant for dinner soon and hopefully at night it will be cool enough to sit in their pleasant outdoor patio area.
Yesterday was Ginnie's last day with us so we took the boat out hoping for a sail. There was not enough wind for our boat but sufficient sea breeze to keep us cool while we anchored off the shore of Calle Major on the western side of the Bay of Palma and had a Mediterranean style lunch. One of the market delis sells fresh buffalo mozzarella and the large local tomatoes that they call 'salad tomatoes' have tons of flavour, so it's very easy to add some basil and a little dressing to make caprese salad. We served this with some Spanish jamon and salami, a range of Mediterranean cheeses, salad greens, a baguette and then local fruit - Mallorcan melon ( nothing like it at home), huge cherries, apricots, white peaches and figs. Plus the bottle of rose! I know we can do this at home, but here the fruit has extraordinary flavour and all of it is inexpensive.
For Ginnie's last dinner we dined at Taberna La Bovida, a very popular tapas restaurant with excellent food, where we could sit outside, have some good fun with the waiters who have been there forever, and watch the world to by. At the conclusion of the meal we were given a yummy 'digestive' - a lemoncello that is made into a sorbet-style drink in a soda syphon. I think we need to invest in a syphon so we can have this drink on many nights.
A 5.30 AM start today ensured that Ginnie was at the airport on time for her flight home. It has been fabulous to spend such a length of time with a close friend who lives too far from Australia for the three of us to meet often.
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